Mr Schue of Oz
by litlcapt
Summary: After an accident in rehearsal Artie wakes up not in Kansas, or Ohio, anymore.


Mr. Schue of Oz

He was swimming in a sea of darkness and confusion. Voices filled his mind but none of them he could differentiate. He did know one thing though, his head throbbed with a vengeance. Trying to recall what happened in the past few moments that led to this he was lost. Then as his eyes fluttered open his scrambled mind became more scrambled. Artie Abrams made a startling realization: he wasn't in Kansas, or Ohio, anymore.

"Artie you okay?" why was the great Wizard of Oz speaking to him.

Maybe he should be asking himself why the Wizard carried the very familiar voice of Mr. Schuester. No, that can't be right since when was he transported to a land far far away. _Well Duh Artie, it's not true. _But how had he come to be looking up surrounded by munchkins. And why was the Cowardly Lion holding his hand. Did that make him Dorothy? Then why was she looking straight down at him as she stood next to a very tall munchkin.

"Artie boy you're scarin' us," the Tin Man was talking to him.

"Yes snap out of it," since when did Dorothy get so mean.

"Artie," the Wizard was talking again, or was it Mr. Schue.

Squeezing his eyes shut Artie tried desperately to run away from this strange hallucination. What happened? All he could remember was trying to pop a wheelie for the new pop number than bam nothing. Of course, Mr. Figgins had decided on covering the stage with a new sealing something or other.

"Dude I'm so sorry, I slipped," man did that munchkin sound apologetic.

Now he was remembering, during the dance in the pop number. Mike the munchkin had slipped and consequently fell into him sending both of them crashing to the ground. So why was Mike standing while he hallucinated the Wizard of Oz. The pain in his head made sense now.

"I think we need to take him to the hospital, he doesn't look so good," a very pregnant Glinda suggested.

"I believe Quinn has a point," Dorothy put in before looking to the Wizard.

Okay this was getting more confusing by the second. Looking up at the Cowardly Lion Artie smiled, he recognized those eyes. Oh Tina right, it must be her so that made the Tin Man….Mercedes. Okay so he was getting the hang of his hallucination but he just wanted to wake up from this backwards dream. And why was the wicked witch of the East standing next to the one from the West, wasn't one of them hit by a house.

"Is he going to wake up in a coma?" the wicked witch of the East said innocently.

It had to be Brittney, only she could say something that strange than that made the other witch Santana. The Scarecrow, Kurt, put something under his head as he stared on at the two witches, or Cheerios. Then the Wizard was once again speaking, giving orders to one of the munchkins. How could they be munchkins if they were that tall and had a Mohawk?

"Yeah got it Mr. Schue," the mohawked one said before exiting stage left.

_There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.._ If Artie were able to he would have clicked his heels three times and closed his eyes. Now Dorothy loomed over him looking very Rachel Berry like complete with that show smile. Shaking his head Artie regretted it immediately the moment the throbbing dull ache morphed into agony. Okay so not such a good idea but he needed to get back to his real mind.

"He's concussed he must be," the wicked witch of the West said in a voice softer than usual. _No Artie not the wicked witch Santana._

"We're taking him to the hospital, I'll pull my car around," the Scarecrow said quickly his voice quivering.

"We'll go with you Kurt," the Cowardly Lion, or would that be Cowardly Tina, said without letting go of his hand.

He didn't like the sound of that. How was he going to explain this to his parents? He knew if his parents knew he was hurt in Glee practice he was a dead man. It's Glee practice not football and it wasn't even one of the jocks this time. Maybe Mr. Schue could practice some of his wizardly knowledge and let him off the hook. Or maybe he could just be quiet and try to wake up from this dream.

"Here" Glinda (Quinn) was back with something, since when did she leave.

"Thanks," Wizard Schue said and placed said thing on his head, it was cold and felt good.

"Stay with me Artie," he added.

He tried to keep his eyes open but they were too heavy. He could see the spots in his vision and before he knew everyone was shifting again. As he looked up blinking to try to stay awake Tina's face was blinking in and out. His wild hallucination was fading because when he looked up again Mr. Schue was once again wearing what he had on that day. But it kept shifting confusing his addled mind Mercedes was still solid silver.

"Hey!" he heard Tina nearly shout before he felt a slap on his shoulder.

It didn't work as well as she hoped because Artie was once again fading. His eyes slipping closed Artie couldn't fight the exhaustion that had suddenly pulled him under. Oh how his head hurt but he tried to see passed the pain. Maybe if the world around him stopped spinning and changing he could keep his eyes open. Taking a deep breath Artie prepared to open his eyes slowly.

"Hey you," the Cowardly….no wait it was Tina, definitely Tina.

As his eyes opened Artie realized with glee that he was indeed looking into Tina's eyes and her voice had lost that growl undertone. Her clothes were once again black. Yep everything was back to normal, well as normal as it could be. For Mr. Schue was no longer surrounded by a dark green glow. Rachel was also out of that signature blue dress and back to wearing the argyle sweater and plaid skirt. And Mercedes Jones was once again Mercedes without the silver and strange hat.

"Are you okay, you took a good hit to the head," Mr. Schue looked down concerned.

"Where did their hats go?" Artie mumbled.

Everyone looked at him in confusion, how hard did he hit his head. He just threw that confused look back at them, didn't they see that Santana and Brittney had lost their witch hats. And where was Quinn's Glinda wand? Oh wait hallucination, now everyone will think he had lost it.

"What?" Mercedes and Tina asked in unison. "Never mind".

He watched as each person surrounding him took up a different look of concern, even Santana whose brows were knit in confusion. He must have taken quite the fall for the Cheerio to even be concerned. He was just glad to be out of his nightmare. The out of place former munchkins, well the tallest one, leaned forward to gaze down at him. He must have seen his confusion because suddenly he was speaking, but thankfully it was Finn.

"Dude you smacked the ground hard and have been out for like twenty minutes," Finn explained.

"It was only like five minutes Finn," Santana interjected.

"Okay everyone lets give him some room," Matt, one of the other former munchkins, spoke up.

"You're right Matt, lets give him some space okay," Mr. Schue looked to all his students.

"Thanks," Artie sighed before looking at Tina.

She smiled at him as they waited; apparently Kurt was on his way pulling his car up to the front of the school. How he was going to get there was a different story because he doubted he could even attempt to pull himself back into his chair through his dizziness. Mr. Schue must have had a plan because Artie watched as his teacher crouched down next to him and put a strong but gentle arm under his shoulders. Instinctively Artie brought his shaky arms around Mr. Schue's neck for support. Mercedes had disappeared from his line of vision only to return a second later wheeling up his chair that had been retrieved and righted by an apologetic Mike. Rachel, Matt, Finn, Quinn, Santana, Brittney, and Mike had stepped back leaving Artie to Mr. Schue, Tina, and Mercedes.

Puck, one of the munchkin clan oddly enough, had reappeared and now stood next to Mercedes. He was poised to help as Mercedes locked the chair and stood with her hands firmly mounted on the handlebars, she had done this before. But then again she was well learned after the many times of fishing him and Kurt from the dumpster. Artie thought he couldn't get any lower until he felt himself be lifted from the floor.

Mr. Schue had slipped his free arm under his legs and in one swift motion had lifted him from the ground. Puck assisted, keeping a hand out in case his weight shifted, and helped guide Will to the waiting chair behind him. It was an odd feeling really, being carried like a child by your teacher but for the first time Artie was grateful. He also noticed through his haze that none of his other teammates threw even the slightest amused look. Even Puck remained quiet as he assisted Mr. Schue and Artie even saw a little sympathy in those expressionless eyes.

"I got it," Puck told Will as the teacher gently set Artie into the wheelchair.

Puck got on his knees and lifted Artie's feet back onto the footrests. When he was finished he looked up with that 'you okay buddy' look prompting an answer. When he didn't answer right away Puck didn't move, the football player and his former arch nemesis was actually worried about him.

"Thanks I'm good," Artie answered softly.

"Good," Puck said shortly before standing up and stepping back to allow Mr. Schue to take his place.

"Artie we're going to take you to the hospital just to make sure you're okay. Is that okay with you?" Will looked Artie in the eyes.

"Okay, thanks Mr. Schue," Artie mumbled in return before leaning his head back bumping Mercedes who still stood behind his chair.

Mercedes rubbed his shoulder as Tina stepped up and unlocked the chair. For some reason _Lean on Me_ was playing in his head in a strange mash-up with _Somewhere over the Rainbow_ as Mercedes began wheeling him out of the auditorium. At this moment, even with the extra help, Artie couldn't be more grateful for his teacher and friends even with his Wizard of Oz delusions. The others just stayed in the auditorium and watched as Mercedes wheeled Artie down the new ramp to the exit.

"You guys go home the rest of practice is cancelled," Mr. Schue informed them, wait where was Rachel.

Rachel who had been standing with the others in silence had suddenly joined the four of them. Following Mr. Schue she offered her silent support. As they made their way to the front door Mr. Schue could see Kurt's SUV parked through the window. Tina opened the door while Mercedes wheeled Artie out first closely followed by Mr. Schue and Rachel.

"Do you want me to try to get in contact with the Abrams?" Rachel asked suddenly.

"No, I have his contact number," Mr. Schue answered as Kurt stepped out of the driver's side to join them.

"We'll contact you with news than you can phone tree to the rest of the club" Kurt said.

"Okay I will do that, feel better Artie," Rachel said sincerely and gave his arm a soft rub.

"Thanks Rachel," he replied in a soft voice.

Rachel walked back inside leaving Mr. Schue and Kurt with the task to get Artie up in the back seat. Artie reached down to lock the chair but his hands were swatted away by Tina as she beat him to the punch. Then Mr. Schue, with Kurt and Mercedes help, lifted him like he had in the auditorium into the seat. The move must have triggered either pain or nausea on Artie's part because he groaned the minute he hit the seat. Tina slid in on the other side taking the middle seat while Mercedes got in after her. Kurt, with ease of practice, got the wheelchair into the trunk while Mr. Schue took the passenger seat.

The ride to the hospital was quiet save for Mr. Schue on the phone informing the Abrams of the accident in practice. In the back Artie had his head resting on Tina's shoulder while Mercedes kept throwing a concerned glance or two in his direction. He was fine, they knew that, and it was one reason why Mercedes couldn't help but chuckle to herself at the look on Mike's face the minute he went down. They would all laugh about this later, even Artie, because as injuries go this had to be one of the stupidest in McKinley High history. Who knew that the stage floor would be that slippery and who knew that New Directions proclaimed best dancer could suddenly have two left feet. Like it or not this was definitely going down as one of the strangest accidents in Glee history.

Two hours and a concussion later Artie was ready to go home. His parents had been informed and surprisingly not as angry as he thought. Instead they understood but he kept the delusion to himself. He didn't need to be looked down on as being handicapped and crazy. Mr. Schue, Tina, Mercedes, and Kurt had stayed with him even in the treatment room and after, Kurt followed behind his parents back to his house.

When they were sure he was okay, Mr. Schue still carrying that worried look that one of his students was hurt, Kurt headed back to the school. Tina stayed though, planned on staying the night after calling her parents and receiving special permission from Mrs. Abrams. As Artie slept that night, Tina on a cot next to his bed, he still feared he was going to wake up to the Cowardly Lion.

In the end Artie had the strangest day of his life. A day that started out with slushy facials and ended with him in bed with a headache. He actually considered bringing up the idea of singing _Somewhere over the Rainbow_ once he was able to see straight. He felt it was a fitting tribute after he received not only a concussion but a free show of the Wizard of Oz through this little accident.

Disclaimer: Glee is property of Fox, Ryan Murphy, and its producers, I don't own anything.


End file.
